Couldn't Care Less
by Belladonna Andromeda
Summary: Can love survive the years? Will it still be there after years of waking up to the same face over and over again? KaHil. OneShot.


Name – Couldn't Care Less (Rewritten!)

Genre – Angst/ (Slight) Romance

Style – AU

Warnings – None

Book/Anime – Beyblade

Main Pairing(s) – KaiHil

Friendship Pairing(s) – Bladebreakers

Summary – Can love survive the years? Can it stay true after waking to the same face over and over again?

000

_Oh, my heart can't carry much more_

_It's really, really aching and sore_

_My heart don't care anymore_

_I really can't bare more_

_My hands don't work like before_

_I shiver and I scrape at your door_

_My heart don't carry much more_

_But you couldn't care less, could you?..._

Kai and I had fallen in love a long, long time ago. We were teenagers around sixteen, maybe seventeen years old. We, even Kai, were all pumped up with hormones, curiosity, uncertainty and insecurity issues. The normal teenage things really. I had had a crush on the captain of the Bladebreakers ever since I met him. How could I not? He was very handsome and I was just a girl with a weakness for good-looking boys. However, his personality was not something I knew how to deal with. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind which is why I was so afraid of telling him, I guess. Because I knew if there would be rejection that the rejection would be harsh and merciless.

It was only thanks to a certain Tyson Granger that we ended up going out. He had read my diarie and, after being heartbroken for a few days that it was Kai and not him I was in love with, he had gotten it into his head that it was his goal in life to get us together. I didn't try to stop him for one reason only: I never thought he was going to succeed. Not that I would've stopped him if he had, but I saw the whole thing as a joke.

His antics amused me to no end until one day Kai Hiwatari himself stood in front of my door and, in a rather blunt, careless way, asked me out on a date. I was overjoyed. I don't ever remember feeling as wonderful as I did on the night of our date. There I was, Hillary Tachibana, sitting at a table with the one and only Kai Hiwatari in the city's most exquisite restaurant.

We had a pleasant conversation. Kai didn't talk much, but that is just who he is. I was happy enough with the fact that he was actually listening and paying attention to what I had to say. He was kind and patient with me. Explaining to use of the multiple utensils next to our plates and talking about the rest of the Bladebreakers. It had been a spectacular day for me.

After three more dates I was more confident around Kai. He, in return, was more open towards me. He had even, very patiently, tried to teach me beyblading. After a few practices I got the hang of it, but I was nothing compared to the professionals. Although he never asked me to be his girlfriend I knew I was. Especially when, on a quiet night when Kai and myself were the only ones home, he kissed me softly on the lips. I have to say that it surprised me that a man like Kai could be so gentle.

Everything was perfect. Tyson was happy for us. Max had been positively gleeful, hugging me tightly and nearly blinding me with the brightest smile I had ever seen. Rei had silently congratulated me though there was something in his eyes that made me wonder if he meant it. Although I had been happier than I had ever been at that moment Rei's odd behavior kept flashing into my head. It was only when it was too late that I realized what it had meant.

Kai had kindly introduced me to everyone he had some kind of relationship with after three years of dating. I was introduced to Tala, who has to be one of the most intelligent and dry person I've ever met. His humor never failed to make me giggle. Bryan, I wished I was never introduced to. He and I both made sure we avoided having to talk or be in the same room with each other, fearing the consequences. Ian, who teased me endlessly about my relationship with Kai. And, of course, Spencer. The gentle giant.

I started seeing Tyson, Max, Kenny and Rei less and less until finally they were no longer a part of my life. I missed them. But I didn't want to be ungrateful so I kept it hidden. Fours years later we had our first child. We called her Svetta. Kai named her. I didn't like the name, but was unable to convince him to give her another name. It was after her birth that I noticed suddenly Kai didn't spend as much time with me as he used to. But I let it go, thinking he simply needed some freedom, some space. But it was lonely, having no one but your firstborn baby to talk to.

Several months after Svetta turned one Kai asked me to marry him. I remember feeling dissapointed when he hadn't stood on one knee in front of me and presented a giant diamond ring to me. But I was happy nonetheless. So happy that I couldn't wait to tell everyone. Only to realize there was no one. That night Kai asked me what was wrong. I told him nothing was wrong. He asked if I was happy. I told him I was.

Hardly anyone I knew was at the wedding. Tala was there along with the rest of the former Demoliton Boys, but it was cold comfort. I had looked around the room desperately, searching for a face I knew. A part of me hoping to see the Bladebreakers rushing through the door in a grand entrance. But no one came. It should've been the greatest moment of my life, but I don't remember ever having felt so cold and lonely.

It was the week after the wedding. The first day of our honeymoon that I found out why Rei had been behaving so oddly. It was a warning. I should've known. I should've read the signs. I should have realized. Rei knew Kai better than anyone. He was his room mate. He had been the person closest to him since the Bladebreakers were introduced. He knew that Kai had _never_ loved me.

Kai married me because he could. He knew me. I was the woman he trusted most. I could give him a heir and I was easy enough to please and handle. I would never give him a hard time. That's why Kai choose me. I should have not married him. I had thrown away my entire life for a man who couldn't care less about me. And I had actually thought he loved me. How could I have been so foolish?

Forty years have passed. And the only difference is the two more children we have. Even after the heartbreak I had suffered the night of our honeymoon I couldn't divorce Kai. One look into those eyes and I was his again. Kai may not have loved me, but Kami knows that I loved him. But after nearly fifty years of waking up to that same face over and over again... you get sick of it. You begin to dislike it, hate it even. And slowly the person who goes with the face as well.

Kai wasn't young, handsome and beautiful anymore. His face was now as cold, worn and bitter as he was on the inside. The passion he had once put into everything except our marriage had died. The flame in those once-gorgeous eyes was gone. Laughter had become a stranger to the both of us. It is now, as I watch him walk towards the kitchen for more coffee, that I feel pity for him. For the man who had never known what love is. For the man who didn't even love himself enough to waste his life away with someone he cherished. For the man who just couldn't care less.

_Your face don't look like before_

_It's really not like yours anymore_

_Your eyes don't like me no more_

_They quiver and they shift to the floor_

_My heart don't beat like before_

_It's never been this slow, no_

_My blood don't flow anymore..._

_And you couldn't care less, could you?..._


End file.
